Coffee Shops and Soulmates
by guacamole lover
Summary: It was near the end of his shift when Percy saw her. Curly blonde hair thrown into a bun, foot tapping restlessly against the floor, gray eyes staring with what was either deep concentration or anger at her computer screen. The latte he had been making overflowed. "Careful!" Piper cried. "Uh huh," Percy said, still staring at the gray eyed woman. Coffee Shop AU


**Wanted to do a coffee shop au and I needed to get a Percy Jackson fan fic written so here we are. It's probably just gonna be a one-shot, since I have two other stories going and no plot thought out for this one, but enjoy. ;)**

* * *

It was near the end of his shift when Percy saw her. Curly blonde hair thrown into a messy bun, foot tapping restlessly against the floor, steel gray eyes staring with what was either deep concentration or anger at her computer screen.

The latte he had been making overflowed.

"Careful!" Piper cried, yanking the lever up and cutting off the stream of milk. "Geez, Percy," his coworker said. "It's five minutes until closing. Just last until then, all right?"

"Uh huh," he said, his eyes still on the gray eyed woman. "Got it."

Piper raised her eyebrows. "Ookay...let me finish that for you." She slid the cup out of his grip and clipped a lid into place. "Vanilla latte for—" she checked the label. "—Annabeth Chase!"

The gray eyed woman—who now had a name—started, as if Piper's voice had jolted her from another reality. She quickly stood up, placed her laptop in her bag, and crossed to the counter.

"We're closing in five," Piper said, tucking one of her braided strands behind her ear as she leaned against the counter. "So don't take too long."

"I was just leaving," Annabeth said coolly. She turned to address Percy. "Thanks for the drink."

"Ah...ahuh…" he stammered. "I mean—"

She was already gone. He just caught sight of one of her escaped curls before the door swung shut.

Stupid! What a stupid thing to say!

"And we're done!" Piper announced. "Work day is officially over." She yanked her apron off and tossed it onto the counter, ignoring the three aprons hanging neatly on the wall beside her.

"Piper!" Percy spluttered. "Why did you do that to her?"

She gave him an incredulous look. "She's gone, isn't she? We can leave now."

"Yeah, but…"

"But…?" Piper repeated. Understanding dawned on her face. "Oh, I see. Someone's got a crush!" She playfully punched his shoulder. "About time, too!"

"Sheesh, Piper," he said, rubbing his shoulder. "You pack a mean punch."

"Go after her!" she urged. "Ask for her number!"

"Yeah, how about no," he said. "She looked scary. Like she might hit me if I asked the wrong question."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. She didn't look that scary. And anyway, who knows if you'll ever see her again? Take a chance!"

"You would know," Percy said carelessly.

For an instant, a flicker of hurt flashed across Piper's face.

"Oh god," Percy said. "I'm sorry, Pipes, I wasn't thinking."

"It's...it's fine," she said, shaking it off. "I should be over him by now, anyway."

Percy stared at her awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

Piper had met her last boyfriend just under a year ago, when she saw him running a marathon. She certainly had taken a chance by leaping the barrier, sprinting up to him, and asking for a kiss. He had obliged. They had been together for six months before she found out he was cheating on her. Even now, two months later, she still wasn't over it.

"Anyway," she said, obviously trying to make her voice upbeat, "I'd better be going. Do you mind closing up?"

"Sure," Percy agreed quickly. "No problem."

She flashed him a peace sign. "Later, Jackson. Watch out for scary blondes."

After he closed up the store and started for his apartment, he took her advice, keeping an eye out for any curly blondes with gray eyes and a vanilla latte. For better or worse, none appeared.

* * *

"—and one tall nonfat pumpkin spice latte, two shots, no foam, no whipped cream, and with almond milk instead of dairy."

Percy stared dubiously at the woman in front of him. "Well?" she asked impatiently. "Did you get that?"

"Piper?" he called out.

"On it," she said, grabbing a plastic cup as she passed behind him.

"Five seventy-two," he said to the woman.

The woman rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath about outrageous prices—she was one to talk, seeing as her outfit looked like it cost more than his monthly salary—but eventually handed over a twenty. "No tip," she ordered.

"Thanks for that," he said under his breath as the woman sauntered away with her change.

"Thanks for what?" a new voice asked.

Percy's eyes widened as he saw the next customer in line. Her hair wasn't in a messy bun anymore, and she had traded her flannel and sweatpants for a fitted business skirt and blouse, but there was no mistaking her gray eyes.

"No...nothing," he stammered. Why did he always turn into an idiot around this woman?

There was a small smile tugging at the corner of Annabeth's lips. "That was an intense order," she said. "You do well under pressure."

Percy laughed. "Yeah, that's definitely not true. You should have seen me during finals."

"In college?"

"Um, no," he said, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing down. "High school."

"Oh," she muttered.

"Can you move it along?" a man shouted from the back of the line. "We've got places to be!"

Annabeth scowled. Apparently she wasn't one for being told what to do. "I'll take one—"

"—vanilla latte?" Percy interjected.

She looked up at him, surprised. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"It's what you ordered last week," he said sheepishly. "Just kinda stuck, I guess."

There was that smile again. Like she was trying to suppress it but couldn't help the way her lips curved upwards. Or how her eyes began to sparkle. "Thank you...Percy."

He sucked in a breath. "How do you know my name?"

"Well, usually I would give credit to my remarkable memory, but…" she slid a ten dollar bill toward him. "It's on your nametag. Keep the change," she added before heading for the pickup counter.

"Pi...Piper?" Percy called out, his voice breaking slightly.

"Pick up the pace," she said, rushing by with a sharpie and three cups. "I can't cover for you every time a pretty girl walks in!"

"Shut up!" he hissed. "What if she hears you?"

Piper paused just long enough to point down at his ten dollar bill. "I think you're past that stage, Jackson."

There, scrawled in the upper right hand corner of the bill, was a phone number.

Percy caught Annabeth's wink just before she walked out the door.

* * *

Percy's hands trembled as he unlocked his apartment door. Of course, today had to be the day he left his phone at home. He had spent the rest of his shift dealing with Piper's not so subtle smirks, volunteering to make every vanilla latte order, and sneaking glances at the phone number written in messy handwriting. Who knew she would have messy handwriting?

He had spent so much time staring at the number, he didn't even have to look at the bill—he had kept it and put his own money in the register instead—before he typed the number into his outdated phone under the contact name _Annabeth._

His hand hovered over the send button for several seconds before he hit it.

Percy: _Hi_

It took him less than five seconds to realize what a stupid, cliche thing it was to write. So he tried again.

Percy: _I think frappuccinos are better than lattes._

Where had that come from? And why, of all things, was he criticizing her drink choice?

Percy: _I mean, lattes are fine and everything, but there's nothing as good as sugar and cream, right?_

He was now panicking.

Percy: _You know what? Forget it. Lattes and frappuccinos are both amazing. Spectacular. I love them both._

Well, one thing was for sure. It would certainly be memorable.

He groaned, falling back on his bed and burying his face in a pillow. He was officially the biggest idiot in the world.

He had never had a girl give him her number before. Never facetimed until two in the morning because he wanted to talk to her so badly it hurt. He had never even kissed one.

Thank god Piper had never found out about that. It was bad enough that he was twenty and still hadn't had his first kiss, but for other people to know? He might as well hide in a hole for the rest of his life.

Rolling over, he checked his phone screen. A thrill of fear ran through him when he saw the … that came when someone was typing.

Her response came a moment later.

Annabeth: _I'm disappointed. If you had really liked frappuccinos more, we could have had a total badass argument about why lattes are better._

It came with a winky face.

A winky face! That had to be good, right? He quickly typed a reply.

Percy: _So you're a debate girl, huh? I never knew a debate could be totally badass. And if you are a debate girl, then I will definitely say that frappuccinos are better._

He added a winky face before sending.

There was another …

Annabeth: _Too much sugar. And the ice? God, it's so cold it hurts my teeth. Lattes win any day._

Percy: _Are you saying you hate cold food? What about ice cream? Everybody loves ice cream!_

Annabeth: _...don't hate me…_

Percy: _No._

Annabeth: …

Percy: _Annabeth Chase, please tell me that you do not hate ice cream or I will delete you from my contacts._

Annabeth: _Throw my contact a very good funeral. Something small, though. Only for family and friends._

Percy: _I can't...I just...you know what? I'm going to sway you to my side of this debate. My favorite candy shop is open until eleven, and it happens to sell the best ice cream on the planet. You won't be able to resist once you taste it. Are you free?_

She didn't respond.

He sat up, staring at the screen and the absence of either words or ellipses. What had he been thinking, inviting her to a random place with a random guy? When would a girl ever say yes to that? He buried his face in the pillow again.

His phone gave a pleasant _ding!_ Fingers trembling, he swiped up to see the message.

Annabeth: _I accept your challenge._

* * *

It was dark outside, cold enough that Percy could see his breath, but the candy shop was brightly lit and cheerful. A blast of hot air hit him as he opened the door.

Rows upon rows of candy filled the store: chocolate, pop rocks, lollipops, jellybeans, taffy, skittles, peanut brittle, and dozens more demanded his attention, but he didn't pay them any mind, choosing instead to walk to the back where the ice cream selections and a gray eyed woman stood waiting.

"I'm giving you fair warning," Annabeth said as he stepped up next to her, "my opinion isn't easily swayed." Even though it was past ten, she was still wearing her black business shirt and ruffled blouse, making him feel severely underdressed in his jeans and plain T-shirt.

"Challenge accepted," Percy said, hoping his voice sounded more confident than it felt. He stepped up to the glass and quickly scanned the selections. He almost always got blue raspberry—or any other flavor that happened to be blue—but Annabeth's latte preference was vanilla, so perhaps he should stay simple.

"Hestia?" he called over the counter. She appeared a moment later, tucking her long dark hair into a cap.

"Hello, Percy," she said with a smile. "Your mother isn't here tonight. She wasn't feeling well, so I offered to take her shift."

Hestia was his mom's coworker. She was about ten years older than him, with bright, cheerful eyes and a smile so infectious you couldn't help but smile back. This time, though, Percy frowned. "She wasn't feeling well?" he repeated.

Hestia waved his concern away. "It's just a cold. Don't you worry. Now, I'm assuming it's blue raspberry for you..." She was already scooping a generous amount of blue ice cream onto a waffle cone. Addressing Annabeth, she asked, "What would you like, dear?"

"I'll take it in a bowl instead and—" she turned to Percy. "—I'm assuming you have a flavor in mind?"

"Vanilla," he answered.

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Hmm. Sticking to a flavor you know I like already, thus assuring the positive connection my brain will make when I eat it. Well played."

"Um...right," he said, trying to look as if this strategy was not news to him.

Behind the counter, Hestia hid a smile.

"Here you go," she said, handing over a cone and a styrofoam bowl, each filled with a generous amount of ice cream.

Percy led them over to a table in the corner. "Alright," he said once they had sat down. "Here's the moment of truth."

Annabeth picked up her spoon, dipped it into the ice cream, and stuck it in her mouth. She closed her eyes.

"Well?" Percy asked.

Eyes still closed, she said, "Nice flavor. Good consistency. But…" she opened her eyes. "It's still cold."

"That's the point of ice cream!" Percy exclaimed. "If it were hot, you'd have a puddle of heated cream and sugar!"

She laughed, a wonderful sound that bounced off the black and white checkered floors and wood paneled walls. "If it were hot, you'd have half a latte made."

He banged his head on the table. "You're impossible." Then jolted up. "Not that that's a bad thing or anything," he quickly said. "I love impossible things. They're great. Perfect. Fantastic."

There was that smile again, half suppressed but still managing to light up the entire room. "Impossible things, huh? Like managing to eat that ice cream without making your tongue blue?"

His eyes widened. Was his tongue blue? He stuck it out to check, realized that he couldn't see it, and then came to the conclusion that he probably looked like an idiot. Again.

"Don't worry," Annabeth assured him. "It's not blue yet. I was just referring to the potential of it happening, given the amount of dye in the ice cream."

"Right," Percy said, feeling relief.

The conversation dropped off, leaving them in an awkward silence. Annabeth stared out the window and stirred her ice cream with her spoon, just like he had done when he was a kid. Percy looked at his ice cream cone and wondered if eating it was worth a blue tongue. He look over at Annabeth, once again noting her professional outfit. Probably not.

They both spoke at the same time.

"Are you in college?"

"Do you like your job?"

They both gave a nervous chuckle. "You first," Annabeth said, gesturing toward him.

"Um, okay. Are you in college?" he repeated. "It's just, you dress like you're already working somewhere, but you look too young to have graduated."

Annabeth glanced down at her outfit. "You're right," she said. "I'm a junior in college, but I'm interning for a few days a week at Greek Enterprises. It's an architecture company. To be honest, I'd much rather be in sweatpants than this thing, but…"

"Work," he finished.

"Work," she agreed.

"So you want to be an architect?"

Her eyes lit up. "Yeah! Yeah, I'd give anything to. It's what I'm studying in college, but it's super competitive. There's a huge chance I'll never make it."

"What about your internship?"

She rolled her eyes. "It sucks. I'm doing it because I need the intern hours, and I thought it would be super cool, you know, being around real architects and everything, but it's the worst decision of my life. All they let me do is make coffee runs and print things. And I'm stuck there for another two months."

"Ouch," Percy said. "So, why do you want to be an architect?"

Annabeth's eyes got a far away look in them. "To build something permanent. Something so strong that it would stand forever. You wouldn't have to worry about it falling apart." She focused back on Percy. "Does that make sense?"

"Kind of," he answered vaguely.

"It's like this styrofoam bowl," Annabeth said. "I'm using it, but in a few minutes I'll just throw it away. It won't matter anymore. But if I chose to make my own bowl, design it myself and perfect it, make it permanent, then I would always have it. I could use it again and again and not have to worry about throwing it out. Temporary things don't matter.

Percy digested this. In a way, it made sense. But still… "I disagree," he said.

She frowned, tilting her head.

"Take my ice cream cone," he said. "It's temporary. It'll be gone after I eat it. But it still matters. It still affected me in some way, even if it didn't last forever." He shook his head. "And now I'm making deep philosophical analogies with ice cream."

"I made one with styrofoam," Annabeth pointed out.

They lapsed into another silence, but this one didn't feel awkward. "Okay," Percy said finally. "Your turn."

"Do you like your job?" Annabeth asked. "I mean, is it what you always imagined doing?"

"Yeah," Percy said, completely deadpanned. "When I was a kid, I dreamed of standing up for eight hours straight and making random people coffee."

Annabeth furrowed her brow. "Oh."

Percy laughed. "I'm kidding.

Her face showed relief. "Oh! Oh, okay."

He knew what her question really meant, and also that she wasn't sure how to phrase it right. "My parents divorced in my senior year," he said. "My dad had been the one bringing in the money, so when he left my mom had nothing. But she managed. For both of us."

"That's cool," she said, though he could tell she was wondering why he had brought it up.

"When it came time to apply for colleges, I decided not to. I guess I just didn't want to leave my mom alone." He rubbed the back of his neck. "She got married again last year. She's happy. But I guess I'm just scared of leaving her. That, and I don't exactly have the funds to go to college. So I'm sticking with the coffee shop."

Annabeth was looking at him with something he couldn't identify. Pity? No, it wasn't that. It was more...sadness. Mixed with admiration. "That was really cool," she said, "what you did for your mom. I don't think I would have been able to do that."

"Yeah, well…" he shrugged it off. "It was the right thing to do."

"Doesn't change the fact that it was cool." She studied him with an almost cryptic expression. " Let's say you could go to college. What would you study?"

"Marine biology," Percy answered instantly.

Annabeth's eyebrows shot up. "Really? I wouldn't peg you for a guy interested in ocean life."

"What would you peg me as, then?"

She leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands. "A skater," she said.

"A skater?" he repeated dubiously.

"Yeah. You know, skateboarding. I don't know why. You just look like one. Tall, lean but muscular, dark hair, not bad looking…" she trailed off, her face reddening.

Percy felt a smile grow on his face. "Not bad looking. What a nice compliment."

"Shut up," she snapped. "It was an observation, that's all."

"Right. Observation. Of course."

She eyed him warily, as if judging whether or not his comment was sincere. "Right," she said slowly.

"All right, kiddos," Hestia called from the counter. They both started. "It's closing time!"

Percy glanced up at the clock, shocked to see that it was eleven.

"I'd better get going," Annabeth muttered, not looking him in the eye. "Thanks for the ice cream." She stood up and made to leave.

"Annabeth!" Percy called after her. She paused, looking back uncertainly at him. He cleared his throat. "For what it's worth, you're not bad looking yourself."

Her smile came back slowly. "I'll see you around, Percy," she said. The door chimed as she walked out.

"Percy," Hestia said, "that is one fine woman."

"I know," Percy murmured, his eyes still on the door. "Believe me, I know."

* * *

 **And there you have it. Leave a review if you liked. ;)**


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